June 3, 2002
Spanish pastor commends Texas Partnerships approach
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___FORT WORTH--Indigenous pastors on the international mission field need missionaries and volunteers to serve alongside them as partners, not to work independently of them, said Roberto Velert, a missions leader among Baptists in Spain.
___Volunteers working through the Baptist General Convention of Texas and its Texas Partnerships Resource Center provide a good example for cooperation with national churches, said Valert, who has served 35 years as a pastor in Barcelona and Valencia and is director of the international missions arm of the Baptist Evangelical Union of Spain.
___Velert recently completed two semesters as a guest professor of missions at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.
___While commending Texas Baptists, Velert expressed strong concerns about the way that the New Directions strategy of the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board is perceived by national church leaders.
___Baptist pastors in Spain have had good working relations and personal friendships with Southern Baptist missionaries for many years, Velert said, and they continue those relationships with some missionaries.
___But a few years ago, he noted, "some policy changed." Now, some of the newly appointed SBC missionaries no longer develop relationships with national church leaders, he reported. Instead, these missionaries focus exclusively on their own ministries, particularly church starting, without consulting indigenous Baptists.
___"That is a mistake," he warned. "We need to work together. If not, it leaves the missionary in a difficult position."
___The IMB began its New Directions policy in 1997 as part of a massive restructuring of the board's overseas operations, signaling a shift in missions strategy. The board now focuses on people groups rather than nations, and it casts missionaries in the role of catalysts for church-starting movements. New Directions also has led the IMB to withdraw nearly all support for institutional ministries such as hospitals and seminaries, leaving those ministries to be carried on entirely by nationals.
___The policy shift also has occurred at the same time the SBC mission board has begun drawing from a more conservative constituent base, sparked by greater involvement by fundamentalist churches and less involvement by traditional SBC and moderate churches.
___The net effect in Spain has been alienation from indigenous church leaders, Valert reported. Missionaries already face barriers of language and culture, and if they are perceived as isolating themselves from indigenous church leaders, nationals will be even less open to their message, he said.
___"If missionaries don't have strong relationships with indigenous churches, they face rejection as a natural reaction."
___Eddie Cox, the IMB's regional leader for Western Europe, disagreed with Velert's assessment of the relationship between missionaries and national church leaders.
___"Southern Baptist missions personnel enjoy a warm relationship with Baptist pastors of Spain. The IMB works closely with convention leaders too," Cox said, noting his personal friendship with the general secretary of Baptists in Spain.
___"We still have a partnership with the convention of Spain. However, it is a maturing partnership because we're no longer pastoring, like we used to do in the past. When developing churches could not afford a pastor, they used to ask us to send a missionary, but no longer."
___Cox added that the IMB also has phased out financial subsidies in Western Europe.
___IMB personnel were involved in starting 14 churches in Spain last year and baptizing more than 260 new believers, he added.
___Many Baptists in Spain perceive that some newly appointed SBC missionaries are unwilling to work with national church leaders because indigenous church growth is "too slow" to suit them.
___"In Europe, church growth is often very slow," Cox acknowledged. "It is a very difficult place."
___Cox agreed that a vast majority of the people in Spain are "cultural Christians" at best, having no personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Evangelical Christians number only about 100,000 of the 40 million people in Spain, and evangelicals engage only about half of the ethnic groups in Spain, he added.
___The IMB sees evangelizing the various people groups in Spain--the Aragonese, Asturians, Caladonians, Extremadurans, Valencians and others--as "keys to opening all of Spain to Christ," Cox said. "We continue to pray to the Lord of the harvest to provide more workers for the still-unengaged peoples of Spain."
___European culture is secular in many ways, in spite of the strength of the Roman Catholic Church there, Velert noted. Europeans tend to be "suspicious of church," and especially resistant to Americans who seek to impose their religious views on others, he said.
___That underscores the need for missionaries to work with church leaders within the national structure, Velert said. And he remains optimistic that Southern Baptist missionaries will recognize that.
___"I hope it will change, both for the good of the missionaries and the mission field," he said.
___Texas Baptists have worked closely with Baptists in Spain, exploring ways that each could benefit from the strengths of the other, Velert said. For example, he cited a recent concert tour by the Singing Men of Texas as an effective outreach tool because it was coordinated with Baptist churches in Spain.
___In the future, Velert sees great opportunities for Texas Baptist volunteer involvement as partners with Baptists in Spain. Spanish Baptists could set up special meetings where Texas Baptist business leaders and professionals could share best practices with colleagues in Spain, and also share their Christian testimonies. Hispanic Texas Baptists could send teams to Spain for preaching, teaching and personal evangelism.
___Texas Baptist young people could offer sports clinics in Spain, as well as possibly working alongside Spanish Baptists at an international camp that would draw European teenagers eager to practice their English skills.
___As African-American churches affiliated with the BGCT explore opportunities for outreach in Africa, Velert sees the possibility of Texans serving with European Baptists at their schools and hospitals in Cameroon and the Republic of Equatorial Guinea.
___At the same time, Velert hopes Baptists in Spain can find ways to help Texas Baptists, perhaps working with the Hispanic Baptist Theological School in San Antonio.
___"The important thing is that we work together," Velert said.
___
The Baptist Standard
News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.
Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!/ Signup for FirstLook
|